Under Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s Transportation Initiative, LADOT will soon be adding a total of 95 new green, compressed natural gas (CNG) buses to the city’s transit vehicle fleet – 32 of which will be deployed as early as this December. The LADOT Bike Blog is happy to report that these new buses will all have bike racks that can accommodate up to three bicycles; a 50% increase over the common two capacity bike rack. For more information about bikes on LADOT transit vehicles, please visit the LADOT transit website by clicking here. More on bikes and transit below the fold.

A sleek new Commuter Express bus carrying a bike

Bikes + Transit in Southern California

Riding your bike to and from transit as part of your commute is a great way to stay healthy, help the environment, and save money. Throughout the region, transit agencies have started to recognize the importance of accommodating bicycles. Over this past year alone, we’ve seen major transit agencies throughout Southern California provide more bicycle infrastructure and institute more bike friendly policies. For example, Metro removed their peak hour bike restrictions on Metro Rail; Metrolink introduced Bicycle Cars on their trains; and as we previously mentioned, LADOT will be introducing new Commuter Express buses with triple racks.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAZASZzpGPI] Unfortunately, this seems to have been filmed prior to the addition of the triple racks.

“The First and Last Mile” Solution

Planners and transit folks often refer to the “First and Last Mile” problem as a deterrent to transit usage. Because of the shape of much of our built environment (typically low density, segregated land uses), many destinations may not be close to transit. Because of this, commuters often stay in their cars because they can’t get from A to B in a convenient manner. Bikes offer a great solution to this “first and last mile” problem. Bikes can cover more ground in a shorter amount of time than walking. And transit is a great way to extend the range of travel for bicyclists. By being bike friendly, we can make transit more accessible to an even greater number of people.